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Definitive site for watercolour

Handprint.com really is the most exceptional site. It contains information and technical data on just about every aspect of watercolour painting. But first a warning - this site is so interesting and so big that you are bound to spend a lot of time reading it!

The site is divided into a number of main sections: brushes, papers, paints, palettes, technique, colour vision, books, retailers and links - really everything you could want to know about watercolour paints.

One of the most amazing sections is the discussion on watercolour pigments. It is rightly described as "The most comprehensive guide to artist's pigments on the Internet. Detailed pigment ratings and background information based on tests of more than 750 watercolor paints from the most recommended manufacturers." Bruce MacEvoy has spent an incredible amount of time tracking down and testing every major brand and colour of watercolour paint on the market. The site will tell you which ones really are permanent what pigments are in each and lots of other stuff.

A big question for beginning and experienced artists alike is which paints out of the hundreds available should I buy? This is discussed in the palette sectionand of particular interest to botanical artists will be the basic palette and the secondary palette. As well as the theory behind colour selection, the site also looks at examples of palettes used by individual artists. Some that are relevant to botanical art are Marlies Najaka who uses a very restricted palette and Joseph Raffael who may use 40 or more paints in a single watercolour.

A while ago I wrote an article describing my painting set up. When I wrote that I was quite happy with the paints I was using, but after reading through the handprint.com site I have introduced a number of new paints to my palette and can really see the results.